Facebook Launches “Lite” Messenger Version For Old Devices
Designing for a cross-platform world can be difficult for startup app developers, especially when you consider the severe limitations of “legacy” devices compared to the incredible computing power, memory and storage capacity of the smartphones now considered standard by the US public. Facebook recently launched a standalone app for messenger users on older devices, showing […]
Google Continues to Push the Boundaries of Mobile Platforms
Google’s Android Experiments series has been fun to watch, and the latest app to come out of the company’s obsession with playful innovation is no disappointment to Android app developers. The app, Sprayscape, is essentially a twist on a VR app, allowing users to create bizarre 3D collages out of the things around them. It’s […]
Developer Highlights From the Google Pixel Event
Yesterday’s Pixel event was a big deal for Android app developers and Google app users, giving a glimpse of the upcoming hardware coming out over the next year as well as a strong indication of the direction Google is headed as a company. Here are a few of the biggest news items that surfaced during […]
Google Hires Former Amazon and Apple Hardware Chief
Apple and Android app developers have been watching Google go through a slow-motion metamorphosis the past few years. With the release of the Pixel phones and a new hardware line, the direction of that change is becoming clear: Google is becoming a lot more like Apple. In the process, they’re capturing more of the upscale […]
Bots in Developing Economies Are a Major Startup Opportunity
Hindsight is always 20/20, among iPhone app developers as well as anybody else creating products in a fast-paced market. Guessing trends isn’t easy. Luckily, we’re starting to see proven success for two emerging trends, both of which have big growth opportunities for startups that jump in early: bots and developing economies. While the bot trend […]
Pokemon Go Underscores Public Desire for Augmented Reality
When Matthew Blake, a 14-year old suffering from autism, finally began reaching out to his peers and socializing, his mother never expected that the source of his “cure” would be so simple. The cure, needless to say, is Pokemon Go — the latest craze sweeping the tech industry and sending iPhone app developers scrambling for […]
Startups Increasingly Tackling Policy and Social Issues
Sidewalk labs (an Alphabet subsidiary) is proposing to build Columbus, Ohio’s public transportation from scratch. Y Combinator is researching what it’ll take to build a city from a blank slate. Artificial islands, far from futurist fantasies, are very real undertakings being pursued by billionaires of the tech industry to create “havens” for innovation. What3Words is […]
Can Mobile App Startups Disrupt the Insurance Industry?
Insurance, along with medical care, is one of our country’s biggest industries — yet also one of the slowest to adapt to updates in mobile technology. The accelerated pace of FinTech adoption by the mainstream public, however, could signal a sea change for insurance. Clearly, consumer confidence in mobile tech has grown to the point […]
Facebook Embraces SMS, but Chat Apps Are Still the Future
Facebook recently turned heads among Android app developers with the rollout of SMS support in Facebook Messenger, a development that flies directly in the face of the companies pushback against what the social media titan considers an “outdated technology.” The feature has been testing since early this spring and the feature — which allows users […]
iOS vs Android: How to Create a Compelling UI
One of the biggest misconceptions about UI design from newcomers to mobile app development is the idea that apps can simply be “copied over” to other platforms. Unfortunately, the truth is much more complicated — even on the surface level, Android and iOS differ in subtle but key ways when it comes to UI and […]